


The Old House

by theskywasblue



Category: Saiyuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Cuddling, Hopeful Ending, Introspection, M/M, Prompt Fic, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:55:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23332720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theskywasblue/pseuds/theskywasblue
Summary: Gojyo had thought they'd be back home within the year.
Relationships: Cho Hakkai/Sha Gojyo
Comments: 11
Kudos: 34





	The Old House

**Author's Note:**

  * For [macavitykitsune](https://archiveofourown.org/users/macavitykitsune/gifts).



> By request of the lovely macavitykitsune, for the prompt: "Where I'll always find you." (Which I may or may not have inadvertently ignored. Sorry about that.)

Gojyo wakes up and it’s still dark. The temple around him is too quiet, like the walls are falling down, like all the air is escaping. He blinks, sucks in a long, slow breath, and feels Hakkai shift restlessly, next to him. When he doesn’t settle, Gojyo turns over, slides a warm hand up under Hakkai’s shirt, across his chest, and feels Hakkai’s body unwind like a spring.

“Not sleeping, huh?”

Hakkai sighs, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Gojyo flexes his fingers, gently massaging the lean muscle under his hand. Hakkai breaks out in a wave of goosebumps, shivers, and shifts his legs against the coarse sheets. “What’s on your mind, huh?”

Hakkai makes a sound that’s not quite a laugh. “Everything.”

Okay, that’s probably fair. They’ve all been feeling a little more on edge than usual, knowing they’re close to something that might be the end. It’s a weirdly familiar sensation; the more Gojyo focuses on it, the more it seems like they’ve been here before.

“I fucking miss my own bed.” Gojyo finds himself saying, even though it doesn’t make much sense. The futons are roomier, and at least equally as comfortable. It doesn’t feel like he’s going to tumble out onto the floor if he shifts away from Hakkai by the smallest fraction of an inch.

“We really should get a bigger one,” Hakkai says. His hand finds Gojyo’s arm, fingers tracing gently over the skin. “Once we’re home again.”

“Wouldn’t use it.”

“And we’ll have to buy a new washing machine.” The old one had been just starting to break down, right before they locked everything up. There hadn’t been a lot of point fixing it, back then. Of course, Gojyo had thought they’d be home a lot sooner. He thought they’d be back, hanging their clothes on the line outside within the year.

What a joke.

“Fuck, I forgot about that.”

Hakkai pats his arm. “I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to forget again.”

“Hell yeah - I’ll be an old man by then. I probably won’t remember my own name.” He presses his nose into the too-long hair at Hakkai’s nape. They’ll have to dig the clippers out of the pack, soon, and take care of that. “You’ll still stick around, right? When I’m a fat old bastard? When I’ve lost all my hair? When I can’t get it up?”

Hakkai laughs, finally. “Gojyo, _stop_.”

“Yeah, yeah, alright. I know you will,” Gojyo murmurs, surprised how true it feels as he presses a kiss to the back of Hakkai’s neck.

At first, Hakkai says nothing. The silence starts to creep in again; and then, “Do you think it could really be like that?”

There are some things they don’t say. Gojyo’s not stupid, and he knows what he’s allowed in this life, which isn’t much. “I know there’s no way in hell I’m going home without you.”

Hakkai’s breath shudders out, then in again. Gojyo is glad for the dark, because even though he thinks he knows what’s happening, he’s sure Hakkai wouldn’t want him to see. It’s a while before Hakkai says anything again.

“We’ll - ah - we’ll have to...paint. The living room. The kitchen. When we get back.”

Gojyo tightens his arm. “Yeah, of course. It’ll be a mess.” Sun-faded, probably water-stained. Full of cobwebs.

Hakkai goes on, “The bedroom too. Something to catch the light.”

“Whatever you want.”

Hakkai’s got the thread of it now. He puts his hand over Gojyo’s, with just the thin fabric of his own shirt in between them. “And we’ll have to do something about the flooring in the bathroom.’

Gojyo laughs into Hakkai’s shoulder. “Hey now, take it easy or we’ll end up bulldozing the house.”

Hakkai makes a thoughtful noise, and Gojyo drums his fingers on Hakkai’s ribs, to keep him out of his head. If that idea takes root, he’s never getting any fucking peace. They’ll be living in a tent on the hill for a decade, while they raise timbers and nail drywall. “Just don’t tell me we have to get a bigger bed, okay?”

And, finally, Hakkai draws in a long breath, and releases some of what he’s trapped inside into the settled dark. “Okay.”

-End-


End file.
